Hitherto, pneumatic tires configured from rubber, organic fiber materials, steel members, and the like are employed in vehicles such as passenger automobiles. Ordinary rubber materials employed in conventional pneumatic tires have no issues related to heat tolerance and the like. However, it is common to use plural processes, kneading, seating, molding, and vulcanizing, in the tire manufacturing process, and an increase in productivity is desired.
To cope therewith, in recent years, investigations have been made related to employing resinous materials, especially thermoplastic resins, thermoplastic elastomers, and the like, as tire materials, since these materials are light-weight, easily moldable, and easily recyclable. For example, pneumatic tires molded using thermoplastic polymers have been disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2003-104005 and the like. These thermoplastic polymers (thermoplastic resins) have many merits from the viewpoint of improving productivity, such as that they can be molded by extrusion. Moreover, polyamide-based elastomers and the like are given as examples of the thermoplastic resin.